Friday, October 31, 2003

High Alert (ongoing)

High Alert (ongoing)
2003-10-30




Comments to follow...


2003-12-23


My two previous posts were actually continuations of this which I rather left hanging.
Since then, we have had some major election fiascos. The Department of Homeland Security has flunked
a security audit of computer systems by Congress (not that I imagine Congressional computers to be in better
shape) and we yesterday entered "Code Orange" mode, which means, well, nobody is quite sure, other than it
is worse than yellow and better than red.


But in case you think the subject here is terrorism or our responses to it, it is not. At least not
directly. What it is basically about is incompetence, at all levels.


When we changed from yellow (was it?) to orange there was the now predictable pot shots from the left.
Why they get so worked up over this system I don't know. Well, I do know. They don't have any REAL issues
to get all worked up over. The Emergency Broadcast System that we have been living with for 40 years or so
is at LEAST as silly (and certainly more expensive) than this new color code. The EBS hasn't been used once
(even on 9/11!!)
nobody pays attentions to it and no doubt in the year 2100 people will be wondering why their brain wave
receptions are interrupted by these "test" announcements complete with annoying sound effects. Nobody will
remember, but
it will still be someone within the government's job to produce them, and produce them they will.


Congressman Ed Markey of Massachusetts is annoyed about something too. Today he called a press conference to
complain
that not enough was being done to screen packages that are put on airplanes. There is in fact reason to be
concerned, but it's
not clear that Markey's press conference had anything to do with those reasons.


He complained that certain packages (below a certain size) are not being scanned or inspected in any way. In
fact we know that many air-cargo packages are not inspected since it hasn't been all that long since a fellow
"air-mailed" himself across country. We know that some of the new screeners are goofing off. Have the
deadbeats been fired yet? It's hard to fire federal workers, and Congress insisted that they be federal
workers and not contract employees. Bush was concerned about not being able to separate those who are doing
the job from those who are not, you know, the ones who take grandma's nail clippers and that new one-inch
pocket knife you gave to your significant other, but at the same time let more box cutters go right through.
Congress won that fight though. But that doesn't stop them from
complaining when some of them got "laid off". My guess is that the lay-off was indeed a filtering exercise,
for which we all ought to be thankful. If they have to "staff-up" and "lay-off" every now and then to get
the job done right, then I hope they do. It would have been so much easier to staff the jobs with verified
contractors (rather than illegal aliens that were being used before). Don't blame Bush for the fact that it
didn't work out that way.


That logic didn't keep Markey from complaining though. His other complaint was that hardware had not been
provided by the feds yet to screen cargo (facts to the contrary be damned). It was widely reported that it
would take quite some time to gear up to make the additional machines to do this for all the nations airports.
Boston's Logan airport is actually on the short list to get first crack at this stuff. Not only do they get
hardware but good old CASH, and apparently Markey's problem is that the money isn't flowing fast enough (maybe
he foresees a tough election year?). He blames it all on the Bush administration. They just aren't spending
the money fast enough. Asked by a reporter how much money is involved Markey draws a blank, but then adds,
"Not that much more than is being spent now". So, what am I missing here? Again we are back to the left's
reliance on a "conspiracy". Why would the administration block a small amount of money for Logan, when it is
fact one of the first airports to benefit from the billions being spent (by you and me) on all of this? Will
Markey next call a press conference to hand out maps of all the unguarded city water supplies in the country?
How about power lines stretched throughout the countryside? Maybe Markey could help the terrorist find those.
How much does it cost to get Markey to "Shut the F*** up" in public and do his job in Congress using less
public means? That assumes he is actually interested in doing his job, versus pumping up his political base.


Remember, Logan airport is where all of this got started. A couple of people got fired there already after
9/11, and remember how hard it is to fire government workers. Maybe some of them were Markey's political
cronies and he still has a splinter up his ass about it. Could that be it? We ARE talking about political
appointees here you know. Or could it be that "Massport's" (as they are called) administration of the
airports still reads like a script for a
Keystone Cops movie?:


"The Dept. of Homeland Security pledged an additional $87 million towards Logan's permanent
baggage-screening system's $146 million price tag July 7. The additional funds brought the total compensation
the airport had received from the federal government to $117 million. Logan was one of three airports to
receive reimbursement after Congress passed a $2.3 billion appropriation earlier in the year to reimburse
airports up to 75% of their expenses for the permanent screening systems. Coy, who pleaded to Congress for
compensation earlier in the year, said, "We accomplished in six months what many experts said was impossible to
do in two years." Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, the other
two recipients of federal funding, were only in the design phase of their systems.


Agents from the federal Dept. of Homeland Security succeeded in passing "prohibited items" through security
checkpoints at Logan Airport according to media reports Oct. 16. The security tests were part of a federal
investigation at about 15 US airports. "By testing airports across the country, the federal government can
identify potential weaknesses and improve screening methods and training," explained Massport spokesman Jose
Juves. The federal security director at Logan, George Naccara, said the tests found security at Logan "no
better or worse" than at the other airports tested. "


(read the full report, it's much worse than my excerpt)


Further questions by the press were not answered particularly well by Markey. He has been campaigning...
uh... complaining about this for the last six months or so and he still doesn't seem to have command of any
facts or figures on the subject. At one point he said he didn't know the answer to a question but that he
hoped to find out when briefed (along with other congress people) by Homeland Security later this afternoon.
So, why couldn't his press conference waited until tomorrow? Maybe he didn't want to be confused by the
facts. Are his constituents so easily fooled by this high drama?


Like I said, incompetence at all levels. At least SOME federal employees can be fired once every two years.
Hopefully Markey's bosses will start thinking along those lines.


You see? There is enough political mud to be slung from all sides. Hopefully actual issues will get debated
and problems solved in that process somehow. Governments have always and will always do things clumsily.
They need watching. Let the public remain on High Alert in that regard.


And while we are at it...

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